Jones Wants to Wear Another Ring : Rams: Defensive tackle helped Miami win two national titles and shared in two Super Bowls with Cowboys. Now, he’s in Anaheim.
ANAHEIM — What’s wrong with the following sentence?
The Rams signed Dallas defensive tackle Jimmie Jones to a four-year contract for $7.7 million, including a $2-million signing bonus.
“The Rams?”
“$7.7 million?”
“$2-million signing bonus?”
How unlike the Rams: They spend lots of money, they place a call to Deion Sanders, they win their regular-season opener.
Has Georgia Frontiere abdicated? Has John Shaw been impeached? Has Jay Zygmunt been kidnaped?
So what if Sanders won’t return their calls; they’ve tried.
Jimmie Jones listened, and his hiring began an off-season run on Frontiere’s bank account. The Rams, who had the well-earned reputation for being cheap, outraced 21 other teams to make Jones rich, handed $9 million to Chris Miller, awarded $3.55 million to Robert Young, and were willing to pay millions to Houston wide receiver Haywood Jeffires.
“They said they were committed to winning,” Jones said, “and I believed them.”
On Sunday Jones’ first big defensive play as a Ram started the team running toward an undefeated season.
In the first quarter Jones shoved the Cardinals’ offensive guard into the backfield and the path of running back Larry Centers, forcing Centers to bounce outside to a waiting Joe Kelly. Kelly, signed in the off-season for half-a-million dollars, popped the ball out of Centers’ arms and into the hands of Ram cornerback Todd Lyght, who ran 74 yards for a touchdown.
“Every guy that we have signed as a free agent is coming off a playoff team,” said Joe Vitt, Ram assistant head coach. “Fred Stokes, Henry Rolling, Shane Conlan, Joe Kelly, Jimmie Jones--these guys are all winners.
“The game is too hard and too tough. You have to have character individuals who have a burning desire in the gut to succeed and want to win. At this stage of their careers, if they don’t have that you’re not going to turn them around.
“You saw the grit and determination and heart these guys played with against the Cardinals. That’s something their mothers gave them.”
The Rams might want to hire Mrs. Jones as a consultant, because she has provided her son with the uncanny knack of winning no matter where he goes.
At the University of Miami, Jones was a part of two national championships. In Dallas, he shared in two Super Bowl victories. One game into his career here, and the Rams haven’t been beaten.
“Once we go out and take care of Atlanta and come back here, and you see us against the 49ers,” Jones said. “Then all the skeptics are going to say, ‘Wait a minute, this team is a contender.’ ”
Jimmie Jones, remember, was trained by Jimmy “I guarantee we will win” Johnson.
“When I got to Miami they had already won a national championship under Howard Schnellenberger and so they told me I had missed out,” Jones said. “But I left there with two rings of my own.
“I go to Dallas, who was 1-15 the year before, and everybody is telling me, ‘You got two national championship rings but you won’t be getting anymore here.’ Well, I got two before coming to L.A.
“See this,” Jones said, while holding up a finger, “I have room for one more ring.”
Dismiss it as crazy talk, but Jones has added something to the Ram attack. At 6 feet 4, 276 pounds, he has given the Rams a missing ingredient--a quality pass rusher to keep teams from double-blocking Sean Gilbert.
“You’ve seen me smiling, haven’t you?” Jones said. “That smile has been there going back to Day 1 when I watched Sean Gilbert on videotape. We’re talking big stats for the guy who plays next to Sean Gilbert.”
Gilbert had 10 1/2 sacks a year ago while playing alongside Marc Boutte, who was released last month. Jones, while an obvious upgrade from Boutte, platooned in Dallas and had 9 1/2 sacks the past two years.
“Sean is a Pro Bowl player and with a player like that you’re going to have the center step back and double him,” Vitt said. “That gives the player next to Sean one-on-one situations, and with somebody like Jimmie Jones, who can win those one-on-one situations, we have the chance for big plays.”
Jones, however, had the reputation for dogging it in Dallas. He says the Cowboys let it be known in hopes of driving down his value on the market with the hopes of re-signing him.
“All I know is I’ve seen none of that in him,” Coach Chuck Knox said. “He’s worked hard every day and it’s obvious how much he’s added to our defense.”
Nice story, but what happens to Jones at season’s end. He has spent the past three seasons in the playoffs, the last two years playing in the Super Bowl. Where will he be this year when the Super Bowl is played?
“I’m going to be there,” he said.
And who is going to provide the ticket?
“We’ll be in the playoffs,” Jones said, “and then if you make it to the playoffs, why put off what you can do today? Why can’t the Rams make it to the Super Bowl?”
What’s wrong with the preceding sentence?
“The Rams?”
“The Super Bowl.”
